Equation 6 · Part 1 · Prepared Fears: How Evolution Biased What the Mind Learns to Dread
Symbol V
What this part means
the current associative strength between a stimulus and an outcome.
Its job in the formula
V is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.
Full expression→Symbol V→Article meaning
Where the article explains it
A standard error-correction rule for associative strength states the update on each learning trial as V = \,( - V) where V is the current associative strength between a stimulus and an outcome, is the asymptotic strength that outcome supports, and is a learning-rate parameter governing how much of the gap between the two is closed on a given trial.
The passage around this formula
The reframing also fits what clinical treatment for phobia actually looks like, without needing an additional assumption. Exposure-based treatment works by driving V back down toward zero through repeated, non-reinforced exposure to the feared stimulus — a description that says nothing about at all. If preparedness operates on the learning rate for acquisition rather than on some separate, treatment-resistant substrate, there is no particular reason a…
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A variable is a named place for a value. Its letter is a local label: x can mean position in one formula and a data point in another.
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Sources cited in the surrounding passage
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